[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 112 (Tuesday, July 12, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S4996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    REMBERING FELIX AND MARIA NORAT

  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I would like to honor the memory of SGT 
Felix Norat and his wife, Maria, two remarkable New Yorkers who were 
interred at Arlington National Cemetery last week. Sergeant Norat was a 
WWII veteran who served in the Army's 45th Infantry Division. His 
bravery and heroism earned him a Bronze Star for Valor, as well as a 
Purple Heart. Maria was a native of Puerto Rico who worked for the War 
Department in New York City. Maria and Felix were married nearly 70 
years, a testament to their love and devotion to one another. I would 
like to commit their story--a quintessentially American story--to the 
Congressional Record today.
  Mr. Norat's unit, the 45th Infantry of the Army, was one of the most 
battle-tested divisions of the entire war, and Mr. Norat was still 
among it when the division came to Munich days before the Germans 
surrendered.
  Mr. Norat's late wife, Maria, upon moving to New York, rented a room 
from her future mother-in-law, who noticed Maria's penmenship and asked 
her to rewrite her letters to her son who was fighting in Europe. 
Often, Maria would include a note of her own at the bottom of each 
letter, encouraging Felix and wishing him well. She later recounted, in 
an interview with the local newspaper, ``I was telling him how proud we 
were that he was serving this great country and how beautiful that 
was,'' she said. ``I never thought I was going to fall in love.''
  But that is what happened. When Sergeant Norat returned home and met 
Maria, it was love at first sight. For Maria, it was nice to meet the 
man whom she would encouraged and written; love came more gradually. 
The couple courted for 2 years and married in November 1947. Sergeant 
Norat attended Brooklyn College for engineering and worked in the 
construction business after 2 years. He and Maria bought oceanfront 
property and built the Ocean Beach Motel in Montauk Point, NY.
  Though life moved on, the wounds and aftershocks of war did not so 
quickly fade. Throughout the year after he returned home, if Felix 
heard anything that resembled a mortar whizzing by, he would 
instinctively take cover, a result of several close encounters with 
mortar fire. During the invasion in southern France, he sustained a 
serious injury from a mortar shell, resulting in an extended 
hospitalization in Italy and for which he earned a Purple Heart. In his 
later years, he also recounted the story of a stroll that saved his 
life. Felix reported that, a few yards into a walk down the trench he 
shared with three other GIs from the 45th Infantry, a German shell hit 
close by, killing two of his friends and taking off the arm of the 
third. Felix often recounted seeing photos of his friends' children and 
lamented that they ``never knew what happened to their father.''
  Felix and Maria sold the motel in 1984, retired, and moved to Naples, 
FL, a few years later, where they spent their final years in retirement 
reflecting on the war and on their lives together.
  Let the record show that this body recognizes the faithful service of 
Felix and Maria Norat and their contributions to this country. May 
their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren accept the 
thanks of a grateful nation.
  Thank you.

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